Comptroller Faults Parks Dept. Mismanagement of Contractors In Street Trees Audit - Public Saftey Concerns, Wasting Tax Dollars

“Tax dollars are wasted, property is damaged and, worst of all, people are sometimes injured or killed. Time and time again in four of the five boroughs, the Parks Department failed to properly manage the work done by private contractors." - City Comptroller Scott Stringer






























Controller Scott Stringer’s office audit found that private contractors hired by the Parks Department were pruning Street trees that didn’t need to be while others that needed to be were not pruned at all. The Parks Department provided failed to give contractors lists of trees  that needed to be pruned, or inaccurate lists and they could not produce evidence that the work was inspected. (Photo: Geoffrey Croft/NYC Park Advocates) Click on image to enlarge

City-Wide

By Geoffrey Croft

The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation (Parks) has mismanaged the City’s street tree pruning program responsible for maintaining approximately 650,000 street trees citywide, increasing the risk of personal injury and property damage from falling branches, according to an audit released on Sunday by New York City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer.

The report focused on the parks department’s borough forestry offices mismanagement of contractors who prune street trees.   

“When the Parks Department, with responsibility for 650,000 (street) trees, can’t figure out what the left hand and the right hand is doing, it causes a real danger to the community. It hurts the fiscal condition of our city,” said Stringer, who held a news conference on West 23rd Street near ninth Avenue in Chelsea on Sunday.  The announcement was made near where someone was hit in the forehead by a falling branch in 2011, which resulted in a $4,000 settlement by the city.

“People are injured and sometimes even killed when trees are not properly cared for.”  

 Over the last few years the city had paid $390,000 to $14.8 million to settle claims related to injuries from falling branches Stringer said.  

Manhattan and Staten Island were the two worst-performing boroughs while the comptroller singled out Queens as the only borough that emerged unscathed.

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COMPTROLLER SCOTT M. STRINGER AUDIT REVEALS MISMANAGEMENT OF NEW YORK CITY’S TREE PRUNING PROGRAM

LEADS TO POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS CONDITIONS ON CITY STREETS Parks’ negligence increases the risk that falling limbs will injure people and damage property

Comptroller Scott M. Stringer Audit Reveals Mismanagement of 

NYC's Tree Pruning Program  

You Tube - Press Conference - August 17, 2014

Contractors fail to prune trees, put public in danger: report
NY Post - August 17, 2014 - By Kate Briquelet  

 City Comptroller Blasts Parks Department Over Tree Maintenance

 Stringer Says Agency's Practices Are Endangering People, Wasting Tax Dollars

WCBS - August 17, 2014  

City Parks Department pruned wrong trees, wasting tax dollars and 

putting people at risk of injury: report

New York Daily News -  August 17, 2014 -  By Erin Durkin   

Staten Island Parks Department's mismanaged tree pruning program puts residents at risk, audit finds

SI Advance -  August 17, 2014 - By Ryan Lavis

Comptroller’s Report Criticizes New York’s Tree-Pruning Program

New York Times -  By Benjamin Mueller - August 17, 2014